India..... at Last! Welcome

Posted by
Deb Parker
on June 20, 2014

I love travelling, I always have. I have spent many hours finding out about India, learning about the rich textile history, trying my hand at curries, reading novels set there, loving the music, listening to scary travel stories, getting hooked on Bollywood movies and much more. India is just such a vast country and culture. I wasn't sure how I was going to take to it, but take to it I did.

I arrived at the end of the festival of Navratri, a very special event all over India, but one of Gujarati's favourite. Nine days of garba dancing. Swirling, sparkling, spinning skirts accompanied by a ever increasing drum beat. Everyone dances, boys, girls, old, young, mums and dads. On the ninth night they dance with tea lights in their hands and the swirling surging crowd dances faster and faster as the beat builds. To say the feeling was ebullient would be an understatement. It was beautiful, overwhelming, unforgettable, magical, and the best welcome to India I could possibly imagine.